In the automotive industry, various systems have been developed to enable access to the underside of a vehicle for a variety of purposes including viewing, washing or fixing the underside of the vehicle. In the past, such systems have typically been either horizontal lifting systems that lift a vehicle from a supporting surface or open pit systems that allow access to the underside of the vehicle from below the supporting surface. Other systems, such as vehicle tilting systems have not been utilized because of the limited access to the entire underside of the vehicle for viewing or fixing the vehicle as well as other issues such as the complexity of operation and the safety issues associated with properly securing a vehicle to a tilting frame.
However, one particular use of a vehicle lifting system where limited access to the underside of the vehicle is particularly desirable is for washing the underside of the vehicle. Traditional car washes including both automatic car washes and manual car washes do not readily enable the underside of the vehicle to be washed. For many vehicle owners, particularly those vehicle owners whose vehicles are driven off-road, the need to have improved access to the underside of the vehicle is necessary to ensure that the vehicle has been properly cleaned of potentially damaging substances such as salt and sand.
However, past vehicle lifting systems are unsuitable for this use primarily due to the cost of installation, issues with respect to the use of such systems in a harsh cleaning environment as well as issues with respect to the operation of such systems by the public. In the case of open pits, the danger of falling into such areas or access to such areas has prevented the adoption of open pits in a car wash environment. Furthermore, both these types of systems are disadvantaged by the manner in which cleaning fluids drip from the vehicle where systems that keeps a vehicle in a horizontal position are more inconvenient as they are more likely to have fluids drip onto the user.
As a result, there has been a need for a vehicle tilting system that can withstand a car wash environment and that is also safe to operate while providing proper access to the underside of the vehicle for cleaning. In particular, there is a need for a system that lessens the likelihood of cleaning fluids dripping or falling back on top of the user.
Still further, many tilting systems rely on mechanisms such as pneumatic cylinders or jacks or hydraulic hoists which are generally not suitable within harsh cleaning environments as the mechanisms may be damaged when exposed to environmental elements such as dirt, grit, sand, salt and cleaning substances including soaps and water.
Some examples of the prior art discussed above can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,525,447, 1,844,584 and 1,973,014 which provide various devices for lifting or tilting vehicles, none of which are suitable for the purposes of the present invention. Other systems such as dock leveler devices (as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,600,859 and 5,651,155) relate to tilting systems, requiring a pit.
Accordingly, there is a need for a vehicle tilting system which can provide adequate support and stability for a vehicle, operate without a pit and provide a mechanism for tilting the vehicle which is suitable for use in harsh environments.